Method and system for ordering content using a voice menu system

ABSTRACT

A method and system for ordering content includes a voice menu system and a phone device communicating a phone signal to the voice menu system. The voice menu system determines the phone number associated with the phone device through the phone signal and generates a voice prompt for recording a content selection from the voice menu system. The phone device selects a recording content option. The voice menu system generates prompts for determining a content title. The phone device selects a content title by communicating a selection signal to the voice menu system. The voice menu system enables a content recording at a recording device in response to the selection signal.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a content processing and deliverysystem and, more specifically, to a system for ordering content using avoice menu system.

BACKGROUND

The statements in this section merely provide background informationrelated to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

Satellite television has become increasingly popular due to the widevariety of content and the quality of content available. A satellitetelevision system typically includes a set top box that is used toreceive the satellite signals and decode the satellite signals for useon a television. The set top box typically has a memory associatedtherewith. The memory may include a digital video recorder or the likeas well as the operating code for the set top box.

Satellite television systems typically broadcast content to a number ofusers simultaneously in a system. Satellite television systems alsooffer subscription or pay-per-view access to broadcast content. Accessis provided using signals broadcast over the satellite. Once access isprovided the user can access the particular content.

Content providers are increasingly trying to determine additional waysto provide content to users. Often times, a user may not be locatedwhere the recording device associated with their television is located.At other times users may not be informed as to new offerings forprogramming that are available. Therefore, opportunities for recordingcontent of interest may be missed.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure allows users to order content from an interactiveinterface provided through a voice recognition system. The content isthen transferred to and recorded at a user device. The teachings hereinmay be provided for live content and on-demand content stored within acontent processing system.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a method includes communicating betweena phone device and a voice menu system using a phone signal, determiningthe phone number associated with the phone device through the phonesignal, generating a voice prompt for recording a content selection fromthe voice menu system, selecting a recording content option, generatingprompts for determining a content title, selecting a content title bycommunicating a selection signal from the phone device and enabling acontent recording at a recording device in response to the selectionsignal.

In a further aspect of the disclosure, a system includes a voice menusystem and a phone device communicating a phone signal to the voice menusystem. The voice menu system determines the phone number associatedwith the phone device through the phone signal and generates a voiceprompt for recording a content selection from the voice menu system. Thephone device selects a recording content option. The voice menu systemgenerates prompts for determining a content title. The phone deviceselects a content title by communicating a selection signal to the voicemenu system. The voice menu system enables a content recording at arecording device in response to the selection signal.

Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the descriptionprovided herein. It should be understood that the description andspecific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and arenot intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

DRAWINGS

The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and arenot intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a communication system accordingto the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagrammatic view of the content processingsystem of FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagrammatic view of the fixed user device ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for linking content andcontent-associated information.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method for browsing selected titles on aninteractive interface.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for searching titles on an interactiveinterface.

FIG. 7 is a method for viewing programming information on an interactiveinterface.

FIG. 8 is a method for viewing trailer video on an interactiveinterface.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for a method for ordering titles on an interactiveinterface.

FIG. 10 is a method for providing parental locks on an interactiveinterface.

FIG. 11 is a web page for browsing various video-on-demand titles.

FIG. 12 is a more detailed menu display for browsing variousvideo-on-demand titles.

FIG. 13 is a screen display of a programmer-specific content page forbrowsing various titles available through the programmer.

FIG. 14 is a screen display of a search results page.

FIG. 15 is a screen display for determining the position of the queue.

FIG. 16 is a screen display for prioritizing a requested video-on-demandtitle.

FIG. 17 is a tabular view of a customer queue.

FIG. 18 is a simplified block diagrammatic view of a mobile device incommunication with a website.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a method for a mobile device accessing aservice website.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart of a method for operating and interacting with awebsite for ordering mobile content.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart of a method for searching for content using amobile device.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart for quick recording of content from a mobiledevice.

FIG. 23 is a screen display for scheduling the recording of a DVR.

FIG. 24 is a screen display illustrating a first login page for a DVRscheduler.

FIG. 25 is a screen display of a DVR scheduler when the e-mail enteredin FIG. 24 is not found.

FIG. 26 is a screen display illustrating lack of support for phoneregistration.

FIG. 27 is a screen display of a DVR scheduler where the user name oridentification is remembered.

FIG. 28 is a screen display for a DVR scheduler used when the user namehas been forgotten.

FIG. 29 is a screen display illustrating the DVR scheduler requires anHD DVR.

FIG. 30 is a screen display of an interface for the DVR scheduler forperforming various functions.

FIG. 31 is a screen display for searching using the DVR scheduler.

FIG. 32 is a screen display for search results for a particular searchitem.

FIG. 33 is a screen display for performing a search with timeconstraints.

FIG. 34 is a screen display of search results returned from a search.

FIG. 35 is a screen display of search results with a pair of selections.

FIG. 36 is a screen search display illustrating further episodes of asearch.

FIG. 37 is a screen display for scheduling recording of search results.

FIG. 38 is a screen display of search results with queue selections.

FIG. 39 is a screen display for selecting recording types.

FIG. 40 is a screen display for confirming a request.

FIG. 41 is a screen display confirming a recording request.

FIG. 42 is a screen display illustrating search results for searching asearch string within a title.

FIG. 43 is a screen display illustrating search results for a channelsearch.

FIG. 44 is a screen display illustrating a quick recording for a DVRscheduler.

FIG. 45 is a screen display for selecting a recording device associatedwith the account.

FIG. 46 is a screen display illustrating logging out of the DVRscheduler system.

FIG. 47 is simplified block diagrammatic view of a secure orderingsystem.

FIG. 48 is a sequence chart illustrating a process for operating thesecure ordering system.

FIG. 49 is simplified block diagrammatic view of an ordering systemusing a link.

FIG. 50 is flow chart of a method of requesting e-mails for orderingcontent using a link.

FIG. 51 is flow chart of a method of generating a webpage link forordering content.

FIG. 52 is screen display of a program guide for ordering content.

FIG. 53 is a flowchart of a method of using a link to order content.

FIG. 54A is a screen display of an e-mail with a link for orderingcontent.

FIG. 54B is a screen display of a website having a link for orderingcontent.

FIG. 55 is a simplified block diagrammatic view of a voice menu systemfor ordering content.

FIG. 56 is a flowchart of a method of ordering content using the voicemenu system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is notintended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses. Forpurposes of clarity, the same reference numbers will be used in thedrawings to identify similar elements. As used herein, the term modulerefers to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), anelectronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and memorythat execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinationallogic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide thedescribed functionality. As used herein, the phrase at least one of A,B, and C should be construed to mean a logical (A or B or C), using anon-exclusive logical OR. It should be understood that steps within amethod may be executed in different order without altering theprinciples of the present disclosure.

The following system is described with respect to a satellite system anda broadband system. The broadband distribution system may be implementedin a terrestrial system such as cable or telephone-type system. Anoptical fiber may also be used in the broadband system. Wirelessdistribution may also be used in the broadband distribution system.

While the following disclosure is made with respect to example DIRECTV®broadcast services and systems, it should be understood that many otherdelivery systems are readily applicable to disclosed systems andmethods. Such systems include other wireless distribution systems, wiredor cable distribution systems, cable television distribution systems,Ultra High Frequency (UHF)/Very High Frequency (VHF) radio frequencysystems or other terrestrial broadcast systems (e.g., Multi-channelMulti-point Distribution System (MMDS), Local Multi-point DistributionSystem (LMDS), etc.), Internet-based distribution systems, cellulardistribution systems, power-line broadcast systems, any point-to-pointand/or multicast Internet Protocol (IP) delivery network, and fiberoptic networks. Further, the different functions collectively allocatedamong a head end (HE), integrated receiver/decoders (IRDs) and a contentdelivery network (CDN) as described below can be reallocated as desiredwithout departing from the intended scope of the present patent.

Further, while the following disclosure is made with respect to thedelivery of video (e.g., television (TV), movies, music videos, etc.),it should be understood that the systems and methods disclosed hereincould also be used for delivery of any media content type, for example,audio, music, data files, web pages, etc. Additionally, throughout thisdisclosure reference is made to data, information, programs, movies,assets, video data, etc., however, it will be readily apparent topersons of ordinary skill in the art that these terms are substantiallyequivalent in reference to the example systems and/or methods disclosedherein. As used herein, the term title will be used to refer to, forexample, a movie itself and not the name of the movie.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a communication system 100 includes a contentprocessing system 102 that is used as a processing and transmissionsource, a plurality of content providers, one of which is shown atreference numeral 104 and a first satellite 106. A second satellite 108may also be incorporated into the system. The satellites 106, 108 may beused to communicate different types of information or different portionsof various contents from the content processing system 102. The system100 also includes a plurality of fixed user devices 110 such asintegrated receiver/decoders (IRDs) or set-top box. Wirelesscommunications are exchanged between the content processing system 102and the fixed user devices 110 through one or more of the satellites106, 108. The wireless communications may take place at any suitablefrequency, such as, for example, Ka band and/or Ku-band frequencies.

A mobile user device 112 may also be incorporated into the system. Themobile user device 112 may include, but is not limited to, a cell phone114, a personal digital assistant 116, a portable media player 118, alaptop computer 120, or a vehicle-based device 122. It should be notedthat several mobile devices 112 and several fixed user devices 110 maybe used in the communication system 100. The mobile devices 112 may eachhave a separate antenna generally represented by antenna 124.

In addition to communication via the satellites 106, 108, various typesof information such as security information, encryption-decryptioninformation, content, or content portions may be communicatedterrestrially. A communication network 132 such as the public switchedtelephone network (PSTN), a terrestrial wireless system, stratosphericplatform, an optical fiber, or the like may be used to terrestriallycommunicate with the fixed user device 110 or the mobile user device112. To illustrate the terrestrial wireless capability an antenna 134 isillustrated for wireless terrestrial communication to the mobile userdevice 112.

Information or content provided to content processing system 102 fromthe media source 104 may be transmitted, for example, via an uplinkantenna 138 to the satellite(s) 106,108, one or more of which may be ageosynchronous or geo-stationary satellite, that, in turn, rebroadcastthe information over broad geographical areas on the earth that includethe user devices 110, 112. The satellites may have inter-satellite linksas well. Among other things, the example content processing system 102of FIG. 1 provides program material to the user devices 110, 112 andcoordinates with the user devices 110, 112 to offer subscriberspay-per-view (PPV) program services and broadband services, includingbilling and associated decryption of video programs. Non-PPV (e.g. freeor subscription) programming may also be received. To receive theinformation rebroadcast by satellites 106, 108, each for user device 110is communicatively coupled to a receiver or downlink antenna 140.

Security of assets broadcast via the satellites 106, 108 may beestablished by applying encryption and decryption to assets or contentduring content processing and/or during broadcast (i.e., broadcastencryption). For example, an asset can be encrypted based upon a controlword (CW) known to the content processing system 102 and known to theuser devices 110, 112 authorized to view and/or playback the asset. Inthe illustrated example communication system 100, for each asset thecontent processing system 102 generates a control word packet (CWP) thatincludes, among other things, a time stamp, authorization requirements,assignments, recording instructions including channel assignments starttimes and durations, and an input value and then determines the controlword (CW) for the asset by computing a cryptographic hash of thecontents of the CWP. The CWP is also broadcast to the user devices 110,112 via the satellites 106, 108. The user devices authorized to viewand/or playback the broadcast encrypted asset will be able to correctlydetermine the CW by computing a cryptographic hash of the contents ofthe received CWP. If the user device 110 is not authorized, the IRD 110will not be able to determine the correct CW that enables decryption ofthe received broadcast encrypted asset. The CW may be changedperiodically (e.g., every 30 seconds) by generating and broadcasting anew CWP. In an example, a new CWP is generated by updating the timestampincluded in each CWP. Alternatively, a CWP could directly convey a CWeither in encrypted or unencrypted form. Other examples of coordinatedencryption and decryption abound, including for example, public/privatekey encryption and decryption.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the content processing system 102 of FIG. 1 isillustrated in further detail. The content provider 104 may includevarious types of content providers, including those that provide contentby way of a satellite 200, DVD 202, via a network as a file in 204, byway of tapes and other means. The content provider 104 may also providegraphics, content description, and other metadata 208 to the system.

The content providers 104 may be various types of content providers andprovide various types of content including advertising content such asrow advertising (ads). The content providers may provide various typesof information including advertising information. Advertising providersmay provide information on various products or various available orfuture content. It should be noted that the advertising provider and thecontent provider may be one in the same.

Content providers may also have a home page within the present system.Briefly, the home page is a portion of the program guide for selectingcontent to be downloaded to the user device. The system operator mayalso have its own home page that has various categories of content. Thecategories and types of home pages will be described below. The homepage provides a listing of on-demand content for the particularsubscriber.

The home page may be formed in various configurations including a menustructure. The content providers may also provide various metadata forthe menu structure or program guide.

Another area of the content processing system 102 is an input server 212that receives the various content and converts the format in a formatconversion system 214. A house format asset storage server 216 may beused to store the content asset in a house format. Still image files,trailers, and other information may also be stored in the house formatasset storage server. A workflow management system 220 is used tocontrol the format conversion system 214 and the server 212. Also, theworkflow management system 220 is coupled to the house format assetstorage server 216 and performs ingest control. The house format assetstorage server 216 provides still images to a content management system221 and house format file, video and audio files to the video transportprocessing system 223.

The VTPS 223 may encode the packet. The encoder may encode the dataaccording to the CableLabs® Video-on-Demand (VoD) encoding specificationMD-SP-VOD-CEP-I01-040107 (i.e., performs asset encoding). The encodeddata is then packetized into a stream of data packets by a packetizer270 that also attaches a header to each data packet to facilitateidentification of the contents of the data packet such as, for example,a sequence number that identifies each data packet's location within thestream of data packets (i.e., a bitstream). The header also includes aprogram identifier (PID) (e.g., a service channel identifier (SCID))that identifies the program to which the data packet belongs.

The stream of data packets (i.e., a bitstream) is then broadcastencrypted by, for example, the well-known Advanced Encryption Standard(AES) or the well-known Data Encryption Standard (DES). In an example,only the payload portion of the data packets are encrypted therebyallowing a user device 110 to filter, route and/or sort receivedbroadcast encrypted data packets without having to first decrypt theencrypted data packets.

The content management system 221 generally controls the overallmovement and distribution of contents through the content processingsystem 102. The content management 221 may also assign materialidentifications to the various received content. The materialidentification may utilize the asset identifier (ID) in the metadata aswell as the provider ID. Content, posters and other received informationmay be assigned related material identifications to make them easier toassociate and retrieve. For example, different suffixes may be used toidentify related content with the remainder of the materialidentification being the same.

A licensing and contract information 222 and ads from ad sales 224 maybe provided to the content management system 221. That is, licensinginformation, tier assignments, pricing and availability may be providedto the content management system. Asset information, file names anddurations may be exchanged between the content management system 221 andthe workflow management system 220. The asset information, such as filenames and durations, may be determined at the server 212 that is coupledto the workflow management system 220.

A traffic and scheduling system 228 is used to provide the requestedchannel, program associated data (PAD), channel information and programinformation packets (PIPs). The traffic and scheduling system 228 mayschedule content processing for a plurality of received assets based ona desired program lineup to be offered by the communication system 100.This may include both on-demand programming and linear programming 286.For example, a live TV program for which a high demand for reruns mightbe expected could be assigned a high priority for content processing.The linear programming 786 provides live broadcasts through thesatellite.

A schedule PAD server (SPS) 230 may be coupled to the workflow systemand is used to generate a broadband video PAD that is communicated to aconditional access system for broadband video 232. The conditionalaccess system for broadband video 232 may be used to generate controlwords and control word packet in pairs and provide those to the videotransport processing system 223.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 2, users of the user devices 110 arecharged for subscription services and/or asset downloads (e.g., PPV TV)and, thus, the content processing system 102 includes a billing system234 to track and/or bill subscribers for services provided by the system100. For example, the billing system 234 records that a user has beenauthorized to download a movie and once the movie has been successfullydownloaded the user is billed for the movie. Alternatively, the user maynot be billed unless the movie has been viewed.

A billing system 234 receives pricing and availability information fromthe content management system 221. A conditional access system 236receives callback information from the communication network 132. Theconditional access system may be used to generate authorizations,pay-per-view billing data, and callback data from the billing system234. Record requests may also be provided from the conditional accesstransaction system 238. A conditional access system BCC 240 may be usedto generate a conditional access packet from the information from theconditional access system 236.

The billing system 234 may generate purchase data that is provided tothe enterprise integration (EI) block 242. The enterprise integrationblock 242 may generate record requests to the conditional accesstransaction system 238. Record requests may be generated through a webinterface such as DIRECTV.com, a voice response system or other methodsin block 244. Various ordering information, such as ordering broadband(on-demand) video, pay-per-view, and various services may be received atthe web interface 244. Various trailers may also be accessed by theusers through the web interface 244 provided from the house format assetstorage server 216. Enterprise integration block 242 may also receiveguide information and metadata from the content management system 221.

Titles, description, various categories and metadata from the contentmanagement system 221 may be provided to the advanced program guidesystem 248. The program guide system 248 may be coupled to a satellitebroadcasting system such as a broadcast transport processing system 250that broadcasts linear and on-demand content to the users through thesatellite 106, 108.

The program guide data generated by the program guide system 248 mayinclude information that is used to generate a display of guideinformation to the user, wherein the program guide may be a grid guideand informs the user of particular programs that are broadcast onparticular channels at particular times. A program guide may alsoinclude information that a user device uses to assemble programming fordisplay to a user. For example, the program guide may be used to tune toa channel on which a particular program is offered. The program guidemay also contain information for tuning, demodulating, demultiplexing,decrypting, depacketizing, or decoding selected programs.

Titles, descriptions and categories may also be provided from thecontent management system 221 to the content distribution system 260.Content files and metadata may be controlled by the content distributionsystem 260.

Referring back to the video transport processing system 227, the videotransport processing system 223 includes a transport packaging system270. The transport packaging system 270 creates pre-packetizedunencrypted files that are stored in the content repository 274. Anencryption module 272 receives the output of the transport packagingsystem and encrypts the packets. Fully packaged and encrypted files mayalso be stored in the content repository 274. Encryption may take placein the data portion of a packet and not the header portion. Metadata mayalso be stored within the content repository to identify features of theprograms or files. The metadata may include, but is not limited to, dataabout the content such as time, duration, actors, title, descriptions,and whether the content is part of a series.

One or more content delivery networks 280 a-n may be used to providecontent files such as encrypted or unencrypted and packetized files tothe communication network 132 for distribution to the user devices 110,112. The content distribution system 260 may make requests for deliveryof the various content files and assets through the communicationnetwork 132. The content distribution system 260 also generatessatellite requests and broadcasts various content and assets through thebroadcast transport processing system 250.

The communication network 132 may be the Internet 122 which is amultiple-point-to-multiple-point communication network. However, personsof ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that point-to-pointcommunications may also be provided through the communication network132. For example, downloads of a particular content file from a contentdelivery network may be communicated to a particular user device. Suchfile transfers and/or file transfer protocols are widely recognized aspoint-to-point communications or point-to-point communication signalsand/or create point-to-point communication paths, even if transportedvia a multi-point-to-multi-point communication network such as theInternet. It will be further recognized that the communication network132 may be used to implement any variety of broadcast system where abroadcast transmitter may transmit any variety of data or data packetsto any number of or a variety of clients or receivers simultaneously.Moreover, the communication network 132 may be used to simultaneouslyprovide broadcast and point-to-point communications and/orpoint-to-point communication signals from a number of broadcasttransmitters or content delivery networks 280.

The content delivery network 280 may be implemented using a variety oftechniques or devices. For instance, a plurality of Linux-based serverswith fiber optic connections may be used. Each of the content deliverynetworks 280 may include servers that are connected to the Internet orthe communication network 132. This allows the user devices to downloadinformation or content (example, a movie) from the content deliverynetwork 280. The content delivery network 280 may act as a cache for theinformation provided from the content repository 274. A particular userdevice may be directed to a particular content delivery network (CDN)280 depending on the specific content to be retrieved. An Internetuniform resource locator (URL) may be assigned to a movie or othercontent. Further, should one of the content delivery networks 280 haveheavy traffic, the content delivery network may be changed to providefaster service. In the interest of clarity and ease of understanding,throughout this disclosure reference will be made to delivering,downloading, transferring and/or receiving information, video, data,etc. by way of the content delivery network 280. However, persons ofordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that information isactually delivered, downloaded, transferred, or received by one of theInternet-based servers in or associated with the content deliverynetwork 280.

It should be appreciated that the content delivery network 280 may beoperated by an external vendor. That is, the operator of the contentdelivery network 280 may not be the same as the operator of theremaining portions of the content processing system 102. To downloadfiles from the content delivery network 280, user devices 110, 112 mayimplement an Internet protocol stack with a defined application layerand possibly a download application provided by a content deliverynetwork provider. In the illustrated example, file transfers areimplemented using standard Internet protocols (file transfer protocolFTP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc. Each file received by theuser device may be checked for completeness and integrity and if a fileis not intact, missing, and/or damaged portions of the files may bedelivered or downloaded again. Alternatively, the entire file may bepurged from the IRD and delivered or downloaded again.

Security of assets available by way of the content delivery network mayalso be established. Control word packets for each broadcast-encryptedasset or content file may be provided to the content delivery network(CDN) 280. Encryption may also be provided.

The broadcast transport processing system 250 may provide variousfunctions, including encoding, packetizing, encrypting, multiplexing andmodulating, and uplink frequency conversion. RF amplification may alsobe provided in the broadcast transport processing system 250.

Wireless delivery via the satellites 106, 108 may simultaneously includeboth files (e.g., movies, pre-recorded TV shows, games, softwareupdates, program guide information or assets asset files, menusstructures etc.) and/or live (linear) content, data, programs and/orinformation. Wireless delivery via the satellites 106, 108 offers theopportunity to deliver, for example, a number of titles (e.g., movies,pre-recorded TV shows, etc.) to virtually any number of customers with asingle broadcast. However, because of the limited channel capacity ofthe satellites 106, 108, the number of titles (i.e., assets) that can beprovided during a particular time period is restricted.

In contrast, Internet-based delivery via the CDN 280 can support a largenumber of titles, each of which may have a narrower target audience.Further, Internet-based delivery is point-to-point (e.g., from anInternet-based content server to a user device 110, 112) therebyallowing each user of the user device 110, 112 to individually selecttitles. Allocation of a title to satellite and/or Internet-baseddelivery or content depends upon a target audience size and may beadjusted over time. For instance, a title having high demand (i.e.,large initial audience) may initially be broadcast via the satellites106, 108, then, over time, the title may be made available for downloadvia the CDN 280 when the size of the target audience or the demand forthe title is smaller. A title may simultaneously be broadcast via thesatellites 106, 108 and be made available for download from the CDN 280via the communication network 132.

In the example communication system 100, each asset (e.g., program,title, content, game, TV program, etc.) is pre-packetized and,optionally, pre-encrypted and then stored as a data file (i.e., an assetfile). Subsequently, the asset file may be broadcast via the satellites106, 108 and/or sent to the CDN 280 for download via the CDN 280 (i.e.,Internet-based delivery). In particular, if the data file is broadcastvia the satellites 106, 108, the data file forms at least one payload ofa resultant satellite signal. Likewise, if the data file is availablefor download via the CDN 280, the data file forms at least one payloadof a resultant Internet signal.

It will be readily apparent to persons of ordinary skill in the art thateven though the at least one payload of a resultant signal includes thedata file regardless of broadcast technique (e.g., satellite orInternet), how the file is physically transmitted may differ. Inparticular, transmission of data via a transmission medium (e.g.,satellite, Internet, etc.) comprises operations that are: (a)transmission medium independent and b) transmission medium dependent.For example, transmission protocols (e.g., transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), user datagram protocol (UDP),encapsulation, etc.) and/or modulation techniques (e.g., quadratureamplitude modulation (QAM), forward error correction (FEC), etc.) usedto transmit a file via Internet signals (e.g., over the Internet 122)may differ from those used via satellite (e.g., the satellites 106,108). In other words, transmission protocols and/or modulationtechniques are specific to physical communication paths, that is, theyare dependent upon the physical media and/or transmission medium used tocommunicate the data. However, the content (e.g., a file representing atitle) transported by any given transmission protocol and/or modulationis agnostic of the transmission protocol and/or modulation, that is, thecontent is transmission medium independent.

The same pre-packetized and, optionally, pre-encrypted, content datafile that is broadcast via satellite may be available for download viaInternet, and how the asset is stored, decoded and/or played back by theuser devices 110 is independent of whether the program was received bythe user devices 110 via satellite or Internet. Further, because theexample content processing system 102 of FIG. 1 broadcasts a liveprogram and a non-live program (e.g., a movie) by applying the sameencoding, packetization, encryption, etc., how a program (live ornon-live) is stored, decoded and/or played back by the user devices 110is also independent of whether the program is live or not. Thus, userdevices 110, 112 may handle the processing of content, programs and/ortitles independent of the source(s) and/or type(s) of the content,programs and/or titles. In particular, example delivery configurationsand signal processing for the example content delivery system of FIG. 2are discussed in detail below.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the user device 110 may be one of any varietyof devices, for example, a set-top box, a home media server, a homemedia center (HMC), a personal computer (PC) having a receiver cardinstalled therein, etc. A display device 300 such as a television set, acomputer monitor, a portable media player or the like may be coupled tothe user device. The user device 110 may be an integrated receiverdecoder, a satellite television receiver or the like for displayingand/or playback of received programming.

The receive antenna 140 (124 on a mobile device) receives signalsconveying a modulated multiplexed bitstream from the satellites 106,108. Within the receive antenna 140, the signals are coupled from areflector and feed to a low-noise block (LNB) 302, which amplifies andfrequency downconverts the received signals. The LNB 302 output is thenprovided to a receiver 304, which receives, demodulates, depacketizes,demultiplexes, decrypts and decodes the received signal to provide audioand video signals to the display device 300 or a memory device 306, orboth. The memory device 306 may be implemented separately from or withinthe user device 110. The receiver 304 is responsive to user inputs to,for example, tune to a particular program.

To store received and/or recorded programs and/or assets, the memorydevice 306 may include any of a variety of or combination of storagedevices such as a hard disk drive, DVR, flash memory or other types ofmemory devices. The memory device 306 may be used to store the content,information, metadata, program guide objects and information and/orprograms received via the satellites 106, 108 and/or the CDN 280. Inparticular, the packets stored on memory device 306 may be the sameencoded and, optionally, encrypted packets created by the contentprocessing system 102 and transmitted via the satellites 106, 108 and/ormade available for download via the CDN 280.

The memory device 306 may also be a device capable of recordinginformation on, for instance, analog media such as videotape or computerreadable digital media such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a digitalversatile disc (DVD), a compact disc (CD) and/or any other suitablemedia.

To communicate with any of a variety of clients, media players, etc.,the illustrated example the user device 110 includes one or moreconnection interface modules 308 (e.g., USB, serial port, Firewire,etc.). The connection interface module 306 may act as a networkinterface that implements, for example, an Ethernet interface.

Each user device 110 may connect to the communication network such asthe Internet 122 via any of a variety of technologies, for instance, avoice-band and/or integrated services digital network (ISDN) modemconnected to a conventional PSTN, a wireless broadband connection (e.g.,IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g, WiMax etc.), a broadband wired connection (e.g.,ADSL, cable modems, etc.), a wired Ethernet connection (e.g., local areanetwork (LAN), wide area network (WAN), etc.), a cellular connection aleased transmission facility (e.g., a digital signal level 1 circuit(a.k.a. a DS1), a fractional-DS1, etc.), etc.

The user device 110 may also include a control module 310 that is usedto control the operation of the various components within the userdevice.

A user interface 312 may, for example, be a set of push buttons or aremote control interface. The user interface 312 is used to makeselections, input various data, and change the parameters of the userdevice 110. The user interface 312 may be used together with a graphicaluser interface displayed on the display device associated with the userdevice.

It should also be noted that the user devices 114 (device 110) may beconfigured in a similar manner to those illustrated in FIG. 3 throughreference number 110. Such devices may include an internal antennarather than an external dish-type antenna that is illustrated in thefixed device as 140. Also, external antennas are possible such as aphased array antenna.

The recording device 306 may also be partitioned into a networkpartition 320 and a user partition 322. Different types of content orassets may be stored in the network partition 320 or the user partition322. The content stored in the different partitions may relate to thetier of the content. This will be further described below.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a method of assigning material identificationsto various content and content-associated information is set forth. Instep 410, content is received from various content providers. Theproviders may provide a provider or asset identification (ID) for thecontent provided. Posters, trailers, graphics, metadata may also bereceived from content providers. The content and the othercontent-associated information may be received in different ways or thesame way. When received in different ways, they may be associatedtogether in the content processing system. In step 412, the contentproviders may also provide a home page package having the home pagegraphics, posters, links and metadata from the content provider. Thetypes of metadata that may be received from the content providers wasdescribed above in FIG. 1.

In step 414, the material identification is assigned to the content andto the content-associated information. This step may be performed in thecontent management system of FIG. 2. Preferably the material ID and theassociated content information are linked together. As mentioned above,one way to link the content with the content-associated information isto provide a common material identification with various suffixes toidentify the various information.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a method for browsing and searching titles onan interactive interface is illustrated. In the following figure thesteps are broken into the user steps 510, the DIRECTV.com or interactiveinterface steps 512, and external interface steps 514. The interactiveinterface may be a website or interactive voice response system. Itshould be noted that the interactive interface may be available throughmany types of device including a mobile phone, a personal digitalassistant, a smart device, a stand alone kiosk or in-flightentertainment systems. The process is started in step 520. In step 522,the interactive interface is entered. The interactive interface may beentered by providing a customer identifier and password. If one does notexist, an account may be set-up with a customer identifier and passwordassociated with a particular account. In step 523, the user navigates toa program guide. The display in step 524 may display all channelsincluding broadband channels (on-demand) if the users subscribe to thebroadband service. That is, both broadband content and linear channelsmay be displayed. Linear channels are channels that are displayed andcommunicated in real time to the users such as normal networkprogramming. Broadband service and broadband channels are available forcommunication to the user device only upon selection. The channels andselections are communicated to the interactive interface from theprogram guide system of the content processing system in step 526.

After step 524, a broadband selection filter may be applied to thechannels so that only broadband channels may be displayed in step 526.In step 528, the interactive interface may turn on or off broadbandchannel listings. By default the broadband channel listings may beturned on for subscribers and off for non-subscribers. In the ONposition in step 530, the broadband titles are displayed in the programguide listing. In the OFF position in step 532, the broadband titles arehidden in the program guide listing. It should be noted that the programguide listing may be received from the content processing system. Theformat of the programming guide and the contents of the programmingguide may be received from the advanced program guide system 248, or theenterprise integration block 242 which provides the metadata from thecontent management system 221 of FIG. 2.

Referring back to step 526, a broadband channel may be selected from theprogram guide via a direct link on the screen in step 540. Theinteractive interface in step 542 displays all primary broadbandchannels, displays broadband lists while secondary channels display onlylistings for a secondary channel. In step 544, the main broadband pagemay be displayed or a secondary broadband programmer page may bedisplayed in step 546 which originates from step 542. The primary ormain broadband page may be linked to a secondary broadband page asindicated by arrow 548.

After step 540, step 550 may be performed. In step 550, a broadbandtitle may be selected from the primary or secondary page or via a directlink. The interactive interface in step 552, in response to step 550,may allow the user to view program information in step 554, view videotrailers in step 556, or order a title in step 558. Steps 554, 556 and558 are achieved by requesting programming information, requestingpreview information, or requesting download information, respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a search for a broadband title may be performedby entering a search string in step 610. By entering a search string,step 620 in the interactive interface may perform a search based uponthe scope chosen by the user. A global search may be performed on everypage. The search may also be entered in step 620 by browsing selectedtitles in step 500 or searching for titles in step 600. The search instep 620 may be performed using the product information received fromthe content processing system. This may be in the form of metadata, orthe like. After step 620, if a global search was performed, step 622displays the results for the entire site including frequently-askedquestions, extended programming guide, site pages, pay-per-view sites,broadband video-on-demand sites. In step 620, if only the program guidewas searched, step 624 displays the results for the extended programguide listings only meaning that TV, movies, pay-per-view and broadbandvideo-on-demand results may be displayed. In step 620, if broadband-onlyvideo was requested for searching, only the results for broadbandvideo-on-demand listings may be displayed.

Referring back to step 610, after step 610, step 630 may be performed.Step 630 may specify additional filters to narrow down the search. Afterstep 630, the interactive interface in step 632 performs a search basedon the additional filters chosen by the user. Examples of narrowingsearches may provide key words in the title, the genre, the specificactor, the director, a description channel, etc. The informationsearched upon is received from the content processing system in step634.

Referring back to step 630, step 636 requests a view of the programinformation for a title selected from the search results. Variousinformation including the actors, running time and various other typesof metadata may be illustrated at this point.

Referring now to FIG. 7, step 554 relating to viewing programminginformation is described in further detail. In step 710, a direct linkto a broadband title may be provided. In step 712, the interactiveinterface may retrieve and display programming information for aselected broadband title. The broadband information may include the fulltitle, the price, the rating, the category, or other availableinformation such as actors, directors, duration, language and otherspecial features. The product information may be received from thecontent processing system in step 514. Inputs to step 712 includebrowsing selected titles in step 500 and searching for titles in step600. After step 710, step 720 requests to view the trailer. In step 722,the trailer is viewed.

After step 720, step 730 requests a download of the title. After step730, the interactive interface orders a title in step 732. The detailsof step 722 and step 732 will be provided below in FIGS. 8 and 9,respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 8, step 722 of FIG. 7 is described in furtherdetail. In step 810, a direct link to a video preview may be provided.In step 812, the video trailer is received and displayed through anexternal link for the selected broadband title. This may include theplayback controls for pausing audio and resolution. This step may beentered from step 500 and step 554 described above. The trailers may beobtained from external interface 514 from a feed room or other metadatain box 814.

After the trailer is retrieved in step 812, step 820 requests to viewthe program information. Viewing the program information was set forthin step 554 above. After step 820, a download of the title may berequested through the interactive interface in step 830. After step 830,step 732 may be performed which includes ordering a title.

Referring now to FIG. 9, the details of ordering a title of step 732 isdescribed in further detail. The web page 512 may receive a request tobrowse selected titles 500, view program information 554 or view trailerinformation 722. These requests for download are provided to thebuild-a-request-for-downloading-the-title step of 900. In step 920,parental locks may be provided which may provide a failure and end theprocess in step 922. If parental locks have not been enabled, step 926may be performed. If the user has more than one broadband-capable box, aquery may be performed to ask the user for a specific box fordownloading in step 926. The user may change the default settings in theadvanced settings. After the box is selected in step 926, step 928 mayallow the user to perform a priority for the default download setting.The add-to-queue selection may be performed to allow the user to add thetitle to the end of the download queue or to specify download now whichpauses any current downloads and adds it to the front of the queue sothat download starts immediately.

The program may be part of a series in which a number of episodes areavailable. The user may be queried as to whether all the programs in aseries are desired. If so, multiple record requests for each piece ofcontent in the series may be performed in step 929.

In step 930, the download request for a title is communicated to theuser device 932. Download requests for a title may, for example, becommunicated in a control word packet (CWP) or a conditional accesspacket (CAP) that is communicated to the user device. Communication ofthe CAP or control word may take place over the satellite, terrestrialsystem or a broadband system. The CAP provides information as to whenthe content may be broadcast through the satellite. If the content is abroadband-based title and will be received through a broadbandconnection, the particular content delivery network may be indicated inthe CAP. In such a case, the Internet address for the particular contentdelivery network may be provided at that time.

A message informing the user that their request was accepted may begenerated. This may be provided by way of an e-mail or otherconfirmation to the user in step 936.

It should be noted that the menu for the various types of contentavailable may include programming that is already started, futureprogramming, linear programming or linear content. Broadband titles areon-demand, while other types of programming, such as linear programming,may also be provided in the menu.

Referring now to FIG. 10, step 920 is illustrated in further detail. Instep 1010, the user requests to view the parental lock setting for theaccount. In step 1012, a display is retrieved and the parental locksetting for the account is illustrated. A single lock for all of theuser devices may be provided. This may be read but not updated onlinefor one configuration. The parental lock information may be receivedfrom the billing system in step 1014.

After ordering a title in step 732, firther details are provided withreference to the parental locks. In step 1020, the parental lock settingfor the account is retrieved and compared to the rating of the titlerequested. If the title's rating does not exceed the parental lock, step1022 sends a success status to continue the ordering request. In step1020, if the parental lock setting is exceeded, meaning the contentshould be locked, step 1024 sends a failure request to cancel the orderstatus. Thereafter, step 1026 displays a message indicating the requestis denied due to the parental lock setting and instructions on changingthe lock. Thereafter, the parental lock system ends and the process maybe terminated at this point.

Referring now to FIG. 11, a screen display 1110 is illustrated. A browsetitle box 1112 may be provided for browsing various genres, the latestadded content, various ratings and various programmers. Searching oftitles may also be performed in box 1114. Certain categories may bedirectly linked by clicking the highlighted areas of 1116. Various otherinformation, including links 1118, billing information 1120, the topdown loads 1122 and related links regarding program and packageavailability may be set forth in box 1124.

Referring now to FIG. 12, a screen display 1210 is illustrated for thecontent processing system browser page. In this example, the DIRECTV®on-demand which provides content from various on-demand sources is setforth. As is illustrated, the browsing title box 1212 is illustrated forsearching various genres 1214, searching various ratings 1216, searchingvarious programs in box 1218 and various programmers in box 1220. Thetype of view may be selected as a condensed view as illustrated by 1222or an expanded view in 1224. A menu 1230 displays various programtitles, genres, ratings, prices when added and when the content will nolonger be available. Searching may also be performed by typing varioussearch words or search parameters in the search box 1240. From the menu,action may be taken by mouse-clicking or entering certain information.

Referring now to FIG. 13, a programmer screen display 1310 isillustrated. In this example, the menu 1320 illustrates various programtitles, ratings and the like, such as those described above in FIG. 12except that titles available only on the Home Box Office®video-on-demand site are provided. Again, a browse title box 1326 and asearch 1328 may be provided for searching the titles within theparticular programmer's page.

Referring now to FIG. 14, a search result menu page 1410 is illustrated.The results may be sorted in various manners, including by televisionprograms 1412, by movies 1414 or by pay-per-view programs 1416. Byselecting one of these, only the programming in that category will bedisplayed in the menu 1410. The menu display may be scrolled throughwith arrow keys and a download may be selected by selecting the downloadselect indicator 1420. The price and end date of the availability of thecontent may also be provided in boxes 1422 and 1424, respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 15, an order download pop-up window 1510 isillustrated. The pop-up window corresponds to steps 926 and 928 above.In this embodiment, a receiver box 1520 may be used to select theparticular receiver for which to download the information. Anadd-to-queue indicator may be selected for downloading to the receiverin the order it was requested. Another indicator 1524 may be providedfor adding the particular selection to the top of the queue.

Referring now to FIG. 16, a menu display 1610 is illustrated fordetermining the priority of the request for download. A normal requestindicator 1612 may be selected for normal, meaning that the program willrecord unless there is not enough storage capacity on the receiver.However, if a previously scheduled program is recorded during the sametime slot, that program may be given priority. A high priority indicator1614 may also be selected which records the program regardless of thestorage capacity or previously scheduled programs. Also, saved programsmay be overwritten. Preferably, programs to be overwritten may be theoldest programs in the user device. When requesting a linear contenttitle, the request may be made high priority. Linear content refers toregularly broadcast content. The content may be requested even after thecontent has started.

If the program is part of a series, all the programs in the series maybe requested at a single time by selecting the check box 1530.

Referring now to FIG. 17, a customer queue 1710 is illustrated. Thecustomer queue includes a title or plurality of titles in a title column1712 and a status column 1714. By way of example, the titles may includerows of titles including title Q, title R, title S and title T. Althoughvarious titles are illustrated, various numbers of titles may be setforth in the title column 1712. As will be described below, varioustitles may be added or deleted based upon selections from the menus. Themenus may be accessed through a website or the set top box as describedabove. The queue 1710 may also be added to in response to selectionsmade from a mobile device as will be described below. The customer queue1710 may reside in the content processing system 102. Within the contentprocessing system 102, the queue may reside in various locations such aswithin the billing system or transaction system 234.

Referring now to FIG. 18, a simplified block diagrammatic viewillustrating a mobile device 1810 that includes a browser 1812 thereinthat communicates through an antenna 1814 with a cell tower 1820. Themobile device 1810 may be various types of devices including a mobilephone, a personal digital assistant or other type of wireless device.

The browser 1812 is a browser suitable for wireless communication. Themobile device 1810 may communicate using a wireless application protocoland thus the mobile device may be described as a WAP-enabled device. Aswill be described below, the wireless device may include a display 1818suitable for displaying a simplified menu structure compared to thatdescribed above. The simplified menu structure may include functionsspecifically for a mobile device and other functions available both froma mobile device and from DIRECTV.com through the internet of a regularcomputer.

The cell tower 1820 transmits and receives signals from the mobiledevice and communicates the received signals to a gateway 1826 such as awireless application protocol gateway. The wireless application protocolgateway may allow the communications to and from the cell tower 1820 andthus to and from the mobile device 1810 to communicate with or throughthe internet 1830. The internet provides information to the DIRECTV.comweb interface 224 which is also illustrated in FIG. 2. The DIRECTV.cominterface for wireless application protocol may include a mobile webinterface such as m.DIRECTV.com.

Referring now to FIG. 19, a method for a mobile device to access theservice website such as DIRECTV.com is set forth. In step 1910, themobile device is turned on. In step 1912, a search for service throughvarious types of wireless connections may be established. In step 1914,a connection is established with the cell tower 1820 of FIG. 18.

In step 1916, a request is sent to the gateway server 1826. A requestmay include various types of requests such as a request to access aparticular website. The request is sent using a wireless applicationprotocol (WAP). In step 1918, the gateway encodes the signal transmittedthrough the wireless application protocol. The wireless applicationprotocol signal may include signals in a wireless mark-up language(WML). In response to the HTTP signal sent from the gateway, the websiteresponds with a signal. In step 1920, the gateway receives the HTTPsignal and, in step 1922 the gateway server encodes the HTTP signal as awireless markup language signal in step 1922. After step 1922, step 1924communicates the wireless markup language signal to the mobile device.As will be described below, various types of ordering confirmations andthe like may be transmitted through the gateway using a wireless device.

Referring now to FIG. 20, a method for operating a mobile device is setforth. In step 2010, the mobile device logs into the system such asDIRECTV.com for scheduling content to be communicated to a set top boxor the like. In step 2010, the steps illustrated in FIG. 19 may beperformed to allow the mobile device to access a particular website.

In step 2012, an identifier such as an account identifier may beprovided to the system. The identifier may include a user name or e-mailthat is identified with a particular account. The identifier may alsoinclude a particular account. It should also be noted that theidentifier may automatically be remembered by the system after aninitial login. This may be done by remembering the device has logged in,in a cookie-like manner. In step 2014, if the password for the accountassociated with the identifier is not known, a request for a passwordmay be transmitted in step 2016. Thereafter, the password may be sent tothe customer by way of an e-mail in step 2018. After steps 2018 and step2014, the password may be entered into the system in step 2020. Afterstep 2020, the user may be validated in step 2022. If the password isincorrect, the user is not validated and the method ends in step 2024.If the user is validated in step 2022, step 2026 is performed.

In step 2026, a screen display or user interface is provided to themobile device whereby different selections may be selected. Theselections may include a search or a quick record function. Both thesearching and the quick recording functions will be described below inother figures. In step 2028, the searching function is chosen. In step2030, a quick recording is chosen. The signals that are generated inresponse to the search request or the quick recording request arecommunicated to the content processing system in step 2032. A requestmay be communicated through the gateway 1826 of FIG. 18.

In step 2034, a conditional access packet or control word is generatedin response to the request signal. The request may be provided from theweb interface 224 through the enterprise integration module 242 throughthe conditional access transaction system 238 all of FIG. 2. The CAP orcontrol word may include various information such as the particularcontent delivery network or the particular transponder on the satellitethat will correspond to the content. In step 2036, the CAP iscommunicated to the specified device through the satellite. The CAP mayalso be communicated through a broadband network to the specifieddevice. The specified device may be a set top box suitable for receivingboth broadband communications and satellite communications.

In step 2038, a confirmation e-mail may be sent to the e-mail associatedwith the account that a CAP was successfully sent to the device. Thee-mail step is, of course, an optional step. The e-mail is generated inthe content processing system through a web interface such asDIRECTV.com.

In step 2040, the content is communicated to the device in response tothe CAP or control word. The CAP may contain information as to thespecific content delivery network 280 of FIG. 2 that includes thecontent. The CAP may instruct the set top box to retrieve the contentfrom the content delivery device. If the content is communicated by wayof satellite, the CAP will tune the set top box to receivecommunications from a particular transponder of a particular satellitewithin the satellite system.

In step 2042, the content is stored in the recording device within theset top box. The recording device, as mentioned above, may be a digitalvideo recorder. In step 2044, once the entire content is communicated tothe set top box and stored in the recording device, an e-mail may begenerated that describes that the recording has been completed in step2044. In step 2046, playing back the content may then be performed. Itshould also be noted that after step 2042, step 2046 may be completedwithout the performing step 2044.

Step 2044 may generate the e-mail in various manners. For example, theset top box itself may generate an e-mail through a broadband connectionand communicate the e-mail or direct the e-mail to the e-mail associatedwith the account. The e-mail may also be communicated or initiated atthe content delivery network. A “successful” or confirmation signal maybe generated at the set top box when a broadband content is deliveredsuccessfully. The confirmation signal may be used by the contentdelivery network and to communicate the signal to the contentdistribution system and that through the billing system or the like. Thecontent processing system may then generate an e-mail to the specifiede-mail of the account.

It should be noted that the process of FIG. 20 may be used to selectboth linear content, meaning regularly broadcasted live channels oron-demand content that is provided through the content repository or thelike.

Referring now to FIG. 21, a method of searching corresponding to box2028 is set forth. In step 2110, a search screen interface is providedto the mobile device. The search screen may include various types ofsearches such as a title search, a channel name search or a channelnumber search. A box for entering the particular search terms may beprovided. Partial or whole words in searching. Searching may be providedfor on-demand content or live (linear) content, or both.

In step 2112, a search term is entered. As mentioned above, a whole orpartial search term may be entered. The search term alone may besearched. However, time restrictions may also be provided. In step 2114,a search time identifier may be set forth by a selection on a userinterface. For example, the search term identifier may include boxesthat include a time limitation of searching today, tomorrow, or the next14 days. A default of up to 14 days may be established by the contentprovider.

In step 2116 the content is searched. The content from the program guideis searched. This may include on-demand and live or linear programming,or both.

In step 2118, the search results of various content selections may bedisplayed on the screen. If several search results are retrieved, asearch display may be scrolled to view the various titles. In step 2120,an entry may be selected. More information may be provided such as moreshow times, various related programs, more episodes of a particularprogram or the like. After a selection is suitable, a confirmation ofthe entry is provided in step 2122.

In step 2124, a DVR location to record to is provided. The digital videorecorder (DVR) location may be various locations throughout a householdassociated with the account. The locations may include a living room,family room, kitchen, bedroom or the like.

In step 2126, a recording priority status may also be provided. Arecording priority status may be high priority meaning record thisparticular programming even if another programming is currently beingrecorded. The lower priority program may be resumed after recording ofthe higher priority programming. Another priority may be recorded ifpossible. This may allow the recording to be placed in the queuedirectly after the currently recording content.

In step 2127, an optional step for creating multiple recordings may beprovided. If the content is part of a series, all the titles in theseries may be recorded by making a series selection at a selector. Theselector may be a textual selector box.

In step 2128, the queue is updated in response to the priority status.As mentioned above, a recording request may be placed at the top of thequeue and all other recording stopped or at the bottom of a queue or ifno other recordings are on the schedule. In step 2130, the recording ofthe content is begun. In step 2132, a recording instruction such as therequest to record title A on channel 501 at 10:30 a.m. on December19^(th) has been received. In step 2134, the user may confirm this byselecting an OK button or other type of user interface. In step 2136, aconfirmation e-mail may be sent confirming that the CAP or control wordhas been sent to the set top box. A second e-mail may be generatedconfirming that a recording is completed such as that illustrated instep 2044 above.

Referring now to FIG. 22, a method corresponding to step 2030 of FIG. 20is illustrated in further detail. In step 2210, a quick recordingselection at the user interface is selected from the mobile device. Aquick recording menu will be further described below. However, a quickrecord may include, but is not limited to, a channel, a particular time,a duration and a date.

In step 2212, the boxes within the quick record menu are automaticallyfilled in for the current date, a default time such as one hour and thecurrent time. This will allow the quick record function to be used veryquickly. Should other times be desirable, the default times may beoverridden. In step 2214, the various recording terms may be provided inthe various boxes. These may be override default terms as mentionedabove. In step 2216, a recording command may be generated in response tothe recording terms. In step 2218, the quick recording command may becommunicated to the content processing system 2218. The contentprocessing system may receive the command through the web interface 244FIG. 2.

In step 2220, optional steps of retrieving the locations of the DVRsassociated with the accounts may be performed. In step 2222, thelocation of the DVRs may be selected by the user. The location may beselected so that the particular content may be recorded on a particularDVR associated with the account. Selecting the location may be performedon the mobile user device by selecting a piece of graphics from the userinterface. In step 2224, a control word is formed in response to therecording command and possibly from the DVR location. In step 2226, thecontrol word is communicated to the user device. Steps 2126-2136 mayalso be performed, that is, the priorities adding to the queue andconfirmation e-mails may be also be performed by this aspect of thesystem.

Referring now to FIG. 23, a welcome screen display 2310 is illustratedwelcoming the user to mobile DVR scheduler. The introductory screendisplay 2310 may include a continue button 2312 that may be activatedthrough the user interface by moving the arrow keys and the like on themobile device. After the continue display is set forth, the user may beasked to sign in.

Referring now to FIG. 24, a sign-in display 2410 is illustrated havingan identifier box 2412 and a password box 2414. The identifier box 2412may include a user name or e-mail associated with the account. This mayautomatically be remembered by selecting the “remember me” box 2416. Tosign in, the user may perform keystrokes on the mobile device and thesign-in box 2420 may be activated.

Referring now to FIG. 25, screen display 2510 illustrates that theidentifier such as the e-mail address could not be found. A try-againbutton 2512 may be provided to the user to try the display of FIG. 24again.

Referring now to FIG. 26, after logging on to the system, a message maybe displayed on the screen display 2610 communicating that registrationvia the mobile phone may not be provided. FIG. 26 illustrates an exampleof eliminating or providing a message 2612 to a user illustrating thatregistration by way of a mobile phone is now set forth.

Referring now to FIG. 27, a user may be remembered as described aboveand as illustrated in the screen display 2710. A password box 2712 maybe provided. Only a password may be provided since the useridentification has been remembered by the system. The screen display2710 may also include a sign-in box 2714 and a switch user box 2716. Thesign-in box 2714 may be used to sign in after a password has beenselected. A switch user box 2716 may be provided if a different userbesides the default user is desired for signing in using the particularmobile device.

Referring now to FIG. 28, a screen display 2810 is illustrated for thesituation where a user has forgotten their particular user name. Theuser name may be sent to the e-mail address that is entered in thee-mail box 2812 by the mobile device user. Box 2814 may be activated tosend the e-mail address to the system so that a response may beprovided.

Referring now to FIG. 29, a screen display 2910 is provided to the userwhen a high definition DVR receiver is not associated with the account.The system may work when certain equipment such as the set top box has ahigh definition DVR receiver. Of course, other warning messagesassociated with various user equipment requirements may be set forth. An“ok” box 2912 may be selected to exit the scheduler. The system may alsowork with other types of DVRs. The system could be tailored for justspecific types like High Definition types as mentioned above.

Referring now to FIG. 30, a screen display 3010 corresponding to variousoptions that may be performed by the scheduler. The display 3010 mayinclude a search box 3012 that is used for performing various types ofsearches as will be described below. A quick record box 3014 may also beselected so that quick recording of a particular channel may beprovided.

A help button 3016 and a sign-out button 3018 may also be provided onthe display 3010.

Referring now to FIG. 31, if the search button 3012 of FIG. 30 isselected, the display 3110 may be set for searching for various content.A search box 3112 may be provided for entering various text from akeypad or the like on the mobile device. A search qualifier such as atitle box 3114, a channel name 3116 and a channel number 3118 may alsobe set forth. Thus, a search identifier may be provided as well as aqualifier such as a title, channel name or channel number. The title orportions of titles may be searched for using the terms entered in thesearch box 3112. The channel name or partial channel name may also besearched in 3116. A channel number or partial channel number may also besearched.

Referring now to FIG. 32, a screen display 3210 is illustrated when “hb”was searched for using the channel name or channel number. Various typesof messages 3212 such as that of 3210 may be provided if no results arefound.

Referring now to FIG. 33, as illustrated in screen display 3310, afterentering a search term such as “arrested” in the search box 3112 of FIG.31, time qualifiers may be entered. The searching may also be qualifiedby time qualifiers such as a today box 3312, a tomorrow box 3314, or anext 14-day box 3316. By selecting one of the boxes, 3312-3316, thesearch term may be searched for only a limited period. Once the timequalifier has been selected in the “ok” box, 3318 may be selected toproceed with the searching.

The results provided from doing a word search may be provided in atabular form or if only one result is provided, a detailed display 3410such as that illustrated in FIG. 34. If “Arrested Development” is theparticular title, a recording may be scheduled by selecting the schedulerecording box 3412 for illustrating more show times by selecting box3414. Oftentimes, a particular show has various show times associatedtherewith. Thus, another show time may be selected for recording. Abrief description 3416 may also be provided in the system describing theparticular content. During the search, it should be noted that bothon-demand and linear programming may be searched.

Referring now to FIG. 35, an alternative screen display 3510 may be setfor when “arrested” was searched. An “add-to-queue” box 3512 may be usedto add the particular show to the user's queue. A “more episodes” box3514 may also be provided so that more episodes of a particular programmay be set forth.

Referring now to FIG. 36, a screen display 3610 illustrates variousepisodes that may be provided by selecting the “more episodes” box 3514of FIG. 35. By selecting the “more episodes” box, various episodes ofthe same program may be set forth so that they may be selected by auser.

Referring now to FIG. 37, a display 3710 is illustrated for providingone option in response to a search. No other episodes or programmingrelated to the particular search has been provided. Only a schedulerecording box 3712 may be provided along with various information 3714regarding a particular program.

Referring now to FIG. 38, an alternate display 3810 may also be formedwhen a particular title is searched. When title is found, an add-toqueue box 3812 may be displayed on the user interface. An add-to the topof the queue box 3814 may also be provided. When the add-to the queuebox 3812 is performed, recording priority may be set and communicated toadd the program to the bottom of the queue. The add-to the top of thequeue box 3814 will be used to add to the top of the queue. Theselection may be communicated to the content processing system to add tothe particular user's queue.

Referring now to FIG. 39, a screen display 3910 used to set the priorityis illustrated. Display 3912 may correspond to the add-to the top of thequeue selection 3814 or may be an independent display after thedesirability of recording is selected. A record-if-possible box 3912 anda definitely-record-this box 3914 may be provided in the display 3910.The record-if-possible box, when selected, may initiate a recordingrequest that records only if other recordings are not scheduled. Thedefinitely record this box 3914 may be selected to have priority overrecordings even a recording is currently being performed. If recordingis currently being performed, the recording may be paused andpermanently eliminated or ended or may be resumed after the selectedrecording is performed.

Referring now to FIG. 40, a screen display 4010 illustrates aconfirmation request to record a particular title such as “arresteddevelopment” on a channel and then a specific time on a specific date.An “ok button” 4012 may be used to confirm the quest and send aconfirmation signal to the content processing system.

Referring now to FIG. 41, a screen display 4110 illustrating that arequest has been confirmed is illustrated. The request may indicate intext 4112 that an e-mail has been sent to the e-mail associated with theaccount. The request may be confirmed in response to selecting the okbox 4012 of FIG. 40. An “ok” box 4114 may also be provided on thedisplay 4110 to continue with the process.

Referring now to FIG. 42, a screen display 4210 illustrating a searchfor a particular phrase such as “arr” is illustrated. A search termindicated 4212 may be set forth along with the number of pages and theparticular page in a page indicator 4214. Various titles associated withthe word search may be illustrated at 4216. Navigation buttons such as4218 and 4220 may be provided. Navigation button 4218 provides a backfunction to scroll backwards in pages. Button 4220 illustrates a nextbutton for navigating forward in various buttons.

Referring now to FIG. 43, a screen display 4310 is illustrated for asearch in the channel searching area for “hb”. As is illustrated, achannel listing 4312 has been provided for the channels associated withhb. There are several Home Box Office® channels displayed. From this, aselection may be made to a particular channel and a particular timeperiod to search within. Searching may take place in a particular timewindow such as that illustrated in FIG. 33 above.

Referring now to FIG. 44, a quick record screen display 4410 isillustrated. The quick record screen display may be displayed after thequick record button 3014 illustrated in FIG. 30 is selected. The quickrecord display may include a channel box 4412, a time box or boxes 4414,a duration time 4416 and a date box or boxes 4418. The channel numbermay be inserted by the user of the mobile device in the channel box4412. The time may be pre-filled in the time boxes 4414. A pre-filledtime or another time may be input over the time in boxes 4414.

The duration boxes 4416 may include an hour and a minute time. The dateboxes may include day, dates and year.

Referring now to FIG. 45, a display 4510 illustrating a plurality ofuser devices associated with the account is illustrated. This step isoptional and thus downloading may be performed to only one of thedevices associated with an account. However, various numbers of set topboxes are associated with an account. A selection may be made for theparticular set top box or device to which the content should be stored.

Display 4510 includes lines 4512 that correspond to different set topboxes. In this example, a living room, a family room and a masterbedroom are illustrated as the selection. By moving a cursor or the likewithin the user interface of the display 4510, a selection may be madewith the mobile device.

A series selector 4514 may also be provided if the program is part of aseries. The selector 4514 may appear in various menus and is shown hereby way of example. By selecting the series selector 4514 multipleprograms may be selected. A separate screen may be provided for theseries selector having the series selector choice. The series selectormay also be part of one of the screens above.

Referring now to FIG. 46, once the user has selected a device the usermay sign out of the website. A display 4610 may be used to indicate thatthe user has signed out of the system. In this example, “you have signedout of the DIRECTV DVR scheduler” is set forth. This is intent of theuser, an “ok box” 4612 may be selected to end the connection to theservice.

Referring now to FIG. 47, a simplified block diagrammatic view of thecontent processing system 102 is illustrated. The same referencenumerals are used for the same components illustrated in FIG. 2. In thisembodiment, the web interface 224 is in communication with theenterprise integration system 242. The enterprise integration system 242may include or be regarded as a web service client as will be describedbelow. The enterprise integration module 242 is in communication withthe remote booking web service 4710. The remote booking web service 4710is in communication with a conditional access management center 236through the conditional access transaction system 238. The conditionalaccess management center 236 is in communication with a broadcast TPS250 that is used to broadcast signals through a satellite and a contentdelivery network 280 that communicates content through a network to theuser device 110. The user device 110 may also be in communication withthe web interface 224 as will be described below.

In general, broadband video titles or on-demand titles and linear titlesmay be requested for download by a device such as a mobile device asdescribed above or at an interface such as the web interface 224. Aconditional access packet (CAP) is created by the CAMC 236 to instruct aset top box or other type of user device 110 to perform an action suchas recording particular content. The request may come from a devicecapable of using a web service. The requests are routed through theenterprise integration module 242 which in turn communicates with aremote booking web service 4710. The conditional access transactionsystem 238 generates a CAP and provides it to the user device 110through the conditional access management center 236. A response may begenerated as to the success or failure of information.

In the above example, internal and external devices may be used as theweb service. For example, DIRECTV.com or a third party may be used.

Referring now to FIG. 48, a first web services client, such as theenterprise integration module 242 of FIGS. 2 and 47, is illustrated. Aremote booking web service 4710 is also illustrated in addition to theconditional access management center 236. The sequence diagram of FIG.48 illustrates the sequence to provide security between the variousdevices. The first web service client may be located within theenterprise integration block 242. This may also be a standalonecomponent. Likewise, the remote booking web service 4710 may bephysically part of various components illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 47.

Prior to the process in FIG. 48, DIRECTV.com calls the enterpriseintegration block or first web service. The second web service is calledfrom the first web service. This is performed in step 4810 which isillustrated as a SOAP message to download material. In the followingSOAP is used. SOAP refers to a service-oriented architecture protocol.However, other types of protocols may be used. The SOAP message may bereferred to as a first message and may include a first security portionor value. The security value may include various types of informationincluding conditional access module identification. The conditionalaccess module card identification may correspond to a conditional accesscard at a particular user device. This may be used to provide securitymeasures. The first security value may also include a time stamp thatdenotes the time of creation of the request. The time may be representedin various forms in coordinated universe time (UTC).

The first security value may also include a service such as the remotebooking web service 4710 and a method such as remote booking.

The first security value may also include an MD5 signature. MD5 refersto message digest algorithm 5 formatting. A symmetric key may be used toproduce the signature. The symmetric secret key may be distributed by anoperations group operating the content processing system. The data forthe signature may include all or some of the portions of the securityvalue described above. For example, the CAM ID, the timestamp, theservice and method may be used together or partially.

In step 4812, the remote booking web service validates the signature.The signature may be validated by calculating a new signature using thesecret key and verifying that the received signature and the calculatedsignature are the same.

A SOAP response signed is generated in step 4814. The SOAP response maygenerate a response indicative that the signature is not valid and thusthe request will not be processed. An identification of a valid requestmay also be generated in the SOAP response in step 4814. An invalidresponse may also indicate that a duplicate message such as thatillustrated as reference numeral 4810 has been submitted.

Once validated, a request is communicated between the remote booking webservice 4710 and the conditional access management center 236. This mayinclude interaction with the conditional access transaction system 238illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 47. The request in step 4816 may include aheader or other identifier that includes information derived from themessage 4810. The message may include the service type, the methodperformed, the time stamp, a transaction identifier and the CAMCidentifier for the CAM card of the user device.

In response to the request from the remote booking web service, the CAMC236 generates a CAP (conditional access packet) or control word in step4818. The conditional access packet may include various types ofinformation including the manufacturer identification that uniquelyidentifies each set top box. A command code may also be provided withinthe CAP. The command code may identify a command type. For example,remote recording may be a specific code. The code may be various numbersof bits depending on the various types of functions provided.

The remote booking web service may also provide a serial number to theCAMC 236. The serial number may be an unsigned 32 bit value thatincrements sequentially for each remote recording request sent acrossthe population of all requests being issued. The requests may havevarious numbers of bits and may wrap around to zero when the counter hasbeen exhausted.

The CAP may also include a method type specifying the method for whichthe material may be downloaded. The method type may include variousnumbers of bits. A method type corresponding to a remote recording usinga material ID may be one method, while remote recording using a contentidentifier may be another method. Yet another method is remote recordingusing channel-time-duration and remote recording using a contentreference identifier (CRID). Various other types of recording may beprovided.

The CAP may also specify a date and time that the request expires. Thismay consist of a 32 bit value that represents the number of secondselapsed since a particular date such as Jan. 1, 1970, coordinateduniversal time (UTC). A priority may also be assigned to a bit or numberof bits within the CAP. A priority may be assigned to each recording. Anormal priority status may mean the recording will follow a normalrecording schedule built into the receiver conflict resolution logic. Ahigh priority means that the recording may override anything elsescheduled by the user, but not system-operator mandatory use of thereceiver's resources. The resolution between multiple and competing usesof high priority remote recording CAP against the receiver's finiteresources may be determined by comparing the serial numbers of the CAP.The lower serial number may have priority over higher serial numbersuntil the receiver's resources are fully utilized.

A verify caller bit or bits may also be included in the CAP. This maycorrespond to providing an identifier for reporting back progress ofscheduling and receiving the requested recording. The verify callbackbit may be used to initiate an e-mail from the content processing system102 as described above.

A material ID that uniquely identifies the material that is beingrequested for download to the user device or set top box is set forth.The material ID may be a 12-byte ASCII. A series string indicator mayalso be provided that identifies whether a single episode or a series ofepisodes may be downloaded.

The system may also be used to communicate content from both a satellitesource and a broadband source. A satellite source allowed bit and abroadband source allowed bit may also be provided. A channel constraintbit may also be provided that allows the system to ignore the satellitesource allowed bit and the broadband source allowed bit. For durationrecordings, a duration field may also be provided in the CAP. Thechannel number for the TV URL may also be provided in the CAP. Theduration and length may be used to identify the time duration channelconfiguration. A major channel field and a minor channel field may alsobe provided.

If a CRID is used in the recording, the CRID length or the CRIDcharacters may also be provided in the CAP. The CRID field is a variablelength ASCII text string that consists of a service name used in theprogram guide transmission.

After the CAP is transmitted, a status signal may be generated by theCAMC 236 and communicated to the remote booking web service 4710. Inresponse to the status, a SOAP response signal may be generated in step4824. The SOAP response may generate a success or failure messagecorresponding to the status signal 4820.

Referring now to FIG. 49, ordering content may be initiated through aweb-based hyperlink or link, for short. As will be described below, thelinks may be associated with a website or an e-mail to allow quickaccess to allow particular content to be quickly and convenientlyrecorded on the user's recording device. The link is formed using acontent identifier corresponding to a particular content that may beordered.

A link-based ordering system using some of the components of FIG. 2above is set forth. In such a system a first network computer 4920 and asecond network computer 4922 are in communication with the Internet4924. Of course, many computers may be associated with the system 4910.A web server 4926 may also be in communication with the Internet. Aswell, the content processing system 102 may be in communication with theInternet 4924 through a web interface 224 such as DIRECTV.com. Thenetwork computers 4920 and 4922 may include a web browser, an e-mailsystem or both. Each computer may access the web server 4926 or the webinterface 224 through the Internet 4924. The web server 4926 may beassociated with a social networking website such as MYSPACE® orFACEBOOK®. The web server 4926 may have a link or hyperlink that isformulated as will be described below by a user of one of the networkcomputers 4920, 4922 for quickly recording content associated with thecontent processing system 102.

The web interface 224 may be used to communicate preferences between thenetwork computers 4920, 4922 for generating e-mails to the networkcomputers 4920, 4922. As will be described below, the e-mails maycontain various descriptions for programs, movies or events. The e-mailsmay be generated in an e-mail alert-type service. The users may receivean e-mail with a number of titles that are available for recording andpossibly a description that accompanies each title. Also as will bedescribed below, the alerts may be setup so that the frequency of thee-mails may be changed. Certain customers may want daily, weekly, twiceweekly e-mails. The e-mails may be created on a regular basis. Thecriteria used for generating the e-mails may be established by the usersof the network computers 4920, 4922 by interacting with the webinterface 224. Details of the operation of the system will be describedfurther below.

Referring now to FIG. 50, a method for generating an e-mail with a linkis set forth. In step 5010, a user of the system logs onto the webinterface such as DIRECTV.com. A menu system may be established forproviding various services such as technical services, billing and otherfunctions. This may be performed by entering an identifier, such as apassword that is associated with a particular account. The web interfacemay interface with the billing system and other modules within thecontent processing system to make sure the account is a current accountof an existing customer.

In step 5012, a selection of an e-mail alert service may be chosen. Thismay be performed through various prompts on a web page, or the like. Byselecting an e-mail alert service, the users of the system may beprovided with one or many different options for the generation of thee-mail alerts. Four examples are set forth after step 5012.

After step 5012, a “WHAT'S HOT” service may be used to select contentfor inclusion into an e-mail. The selection in the “WHAT'S HOT” servicemay be performed in step 5014. Feeding into step 5014 is step 5016. The“WHAT'S HOT” list may be compiled in step 5016. The “WHAT'S HOT” list isa list of content that is the most popular associated with the system,such as DIRECTV®. The “WHAT'S HOT” list may generate an ever-changinglist of the hottest programming recorded or requested within apredetermined period of time. Thus, in step 5014, a list of the mostpopular titles that appear in the “WHAT'S HOT” list may be used togenerate the e-mail.

After step 5012, another type of service, a recommendation service, maybe selected in step 5018. In this service, a recommendation from aperson or group may be chosen. For example, a particular author,reviewer, fan group or the like may be selected. For example, someonelike Martin Scorsese may recommend a particular group of films orprogramming.

Another choice after selecting an e-mail service in step 5012 isselecting a personalized service in step 5020. The personalized servicemay be established by the user entering various terms in step 5022 toidentify particular words in titles or descriptions. For example, filmsor programming mentioning The Detroit Tigers may be selected.

After step 5012, another type of service such as genre or type may alsobe selected. General categories such as genre or type of movie may beselected by the user. For example, black and white horror films may beselected.

After the type of selection criteria is established in steps 5014through 5024, the frequency of e-mail may also optionally be selected.The selection of e-mail frequency or time interval may be performed instep 5026. The e-mail frequency may be daily, twice weekly, or weekly,for example. Of course, other types of frequencies may be set forth. Thee-mail frequency may also depend upon the service selected. For example,when selecting box 5018 above, the recommendations may only take placeone or twice a month. Of course, more than one service may be selectedby a user.

In step 5028, data for the e-mail is retrieved. The data may beretrieved from the content processing system 102. Various locationswithin the content processing system 102 may be used for retrieving thedata for the e-mail. The e-mail may include a link and also includedescriptions of the material and other types of information. Thedescriptions of the material, programming or content may be retrievedfrom the program guide, the content management system or other locationswithin the content processing system.

In step 5030, once the data for the e-mails is retrieved, the e-mail isformulated with the recommended programs, movies, events of interest andvarious links associated therewith. The e-mails may be communicated to avariety of user devices.

Referring now to FIG. 51, a method for generating a link to specificprogramming is set forth for a webpage. In step 5110, the user desiringa link may logon to a web interface such as DIRECTV.com. Once a specificprogram, movie, or event of interest is located within a schedulelocated on DIRECTV.com in step 5112, a hyperlink or link to theprogramming is formed in step 5114. The hyperlink created in step 5114may link to various locations as will be described below. In step 5116,the link is then associated or saved within a website or a socialnetworking page. Thus, by clicking the link the process to beginrecording the particular content may be provided. The process describedabove with respect to the web interface may then be performed.

Referring now to FIG. 52, an example of TV listings from a program guide5210 is illustrated. In this example, a particular box 5212 having “TheSimpson's Movie” has been selected. A link may be created by selectingthe “CREATE” link selection 5214. The selection 5214 may be used by auser of another website and a link may be created on the website so thatother people may quickly link to the content.

The program guide 5210 may also be used to create a destination for oneof the links created in FIGS. 50 and 51. In this example, a selectionsuch as “RECORD TO RECEIVER” 5216 may be provided on the program guide.The selection 5216 may initiate the recording function for theparticular program or event. This may be performed after logging intothe system. As illustrated in the program guide 5210, other programguide data may also be presented at the same time as illustrated byreference numeral 5220.

Referring now to FIG. 53, a method is illustrated for following a linkpresented either in an e-mail or through a web page. In step 5310, ane-mail is received by one of the network computers 4290 or 4292illustrated in FIG. 49. In step 5312, an e-mail or a web page is enteredusing a web browser through one of the network computers 5920, 5922described above in FIG. 49.

Both steps 5310 and 5312 proceed to step 5314 in which a selection orlink that is associated with the e-mail or web page in step 5314. Oncethe link is selected, the selection information associated with the linkis communicated to a web interface such as DIRECTV.com as illustratedabove. In step 5318, the link may link the user computer to the programguide page illustrated in FIG. 52 above. As illustrated above, theprogram guide page may have a “RECORD TO RECEIVER” selection thereon.The “RECORD TO RECEIVER” selection may be selected in step 5320. Thisprocess may be entered by first logging in or by selecting the “RECORDTO RECEIVER” function, then logging in. Logging in is illustrated instep 5322.

Other parameters may also be selected when choosing to record a request.In step 5324, a room location or access card corresponding to a roomlocation may be set forth. This is illustrated as box 1520 in FIG. 5.

A prioritization may also take place when choosing the recordingfunction in step 5326. Prioritization is also illustrated in FIG. 15 asboxes 1522 and 1524. Prioritization may take place as set forth in FIG.15 by adding a title to the queue or adding to the top of the queue forimmediate downloading. Once a confirmation of the selection has takenplace, the content may be communicated to and stored within a recordingdevice. A series link may be set to record all the programs in a seriesin step 5327. In step 5328, a request for recording is communicated tothe content processing system.

In step 5330, a conditional access packet or control word is generatedin response to the request signal. The request may be provided from theweb interface 224 through the enterprise integration module 242 throughthe conditional access transaction system 238 all of FIG. 2. The CAP orcontrol word may include various information such as the particularcontent delivery network or the particular transponder on the satellitethat will correspond to the content. Content time, duration channel,location may be information provided in the CAP. In step 5332, the CAPis communicated to the specified device through the satellite. The CAPmay also be communicated through a broadband network to the specifieddevice. The specified device may be a set top box suitable for receivingboth broadband communications and satellite communications.

In step 5334, a confirmation e-mail may be sent to the e-mail associatedwith the account that a CAP was successfully sent to the device. Thee-mail step is, of course, an optional step. The e-mail is generated inthe content processing system through a web interface such asDIRECTV.com.

In step 5336, the content is communicated to the device in response tothe CAP or control word. The CAP may contain information as to thespecific content delivery network 280 of FIG. 2 that includes thecontent. The CAP may instruct the set top box to retrieve the contentfrom the content delivery device. If the content is communicated by wayof satellite, the CAP will tune the set top box to receivecommunications from a particular transponder of a particular satellitewithin the satellite system.

In step 5338, the content is stored in the recording device within theset top box. The recording device, as mentioned above, may be a digitalvideo recorder (DVR). In step 5340, once the entire content iscommunicated to the set top box and stored in the recording device, ane-mail may be generated that describes that the recording has beencompleted in step 5340. In step 5342, playing back the content may thenbe performed. It should also be noted that after step 5338, step 5342may be completed without the performing step 5340.

Step 5340 may generate the e-mail in various manners. For example, theset top box itself may generate an e-mail through a broadband connectionand communicate the e-mail or direct the e-mail to the e-mail associatedwith the account. The e-mail may also be communicated or initiated atthe content delivery network. A “successful” or confirmation signal maybe generated at the set top box when a broadband content is deliveredsuccessfully. The confirmation signal may be used by the contentdelivery network and to communicate the signal to the contentdistribution system and that through the billing system or the like. Thecontent processing system may then generate an e-mail to the specifiede-mail of the account.

Referring now to FIG. 54A, an example of an e-mail from DIRECTV.comproviding new movies according to various criteria is set forth. In thefollowing example, two movies, one having the title “The Water Boy”starring Alexander Mierzwa having the description “Boy helps a thirstydad” is set forth. The type of movie is provided as a drama. The channelsuch as HBO-15, the time such as 8:00 p.m. and the date is alsoprovided. The title is set forth at 5410, the actors are set forth at5412, a type of movie is set forth at 5413, a brief description is setforth at 5414, the channel is set forth at 5416 and the time and dateare provided at 5418. Another title such as “Web Children” is providedat 5420, another actor such as Charles Mierzwa is provided at location5422, a brief description at 5426 and a channel at 5428. A date and timeare also provided at 5430. Of course, the various titles at 5410 and5420 are underlined to illustrate that they may be links or hyperlinksto DIRECTV.com or another program guide. By following the link, the usermay select and initiate the recording of the selection on the recordingdevice.

Referring now to FIG. 54B, an example of a social networking website isprovided at 5450. An example of a third-party social networking site mayinclude a name location 5452, such as Benjamin Mierzwa. The third-partysite may be an outside company, i.e., beyond ownership or control of thecontent processor. In this example, interests may be provided at 5454and a recommended show, movie or other content of interest may beprovided at 5456 as a link. The title of the show is underlined toillustrate that the title may be a hyperlink in a similar manner to thatdescribed above in FIG. 54A. The time and date may be provided at 5460and the channel may be provided at 5462.

Referring now to FIG. 55, another method for generating recordingrequests includes the user of a voice menu system 5510. The voice menusystem 5510 may generate voice prompts and issue menu selections. Theprompts may be responded to by button pushes or voice commands. Thus,the voice menu system may be a voice recognition system. The voice menusystem may be in communication with a communication network 5512. Also,the communication network may be in communication with the contentprocessing system 102 and a web interface 244. The voice menu system mayalso be in communication with the caller identification module 5420. Thecaller identification module 5520 may be used to identify a caller on aphone line due to the included information therein.

A phone device, such as a wired phone, wireless phone or cellular phone5522, is also in communication with the communication network 5512. Thephone 5522 is in communication with the DIRECTV voice menu system 5510through the network 5512. As will be described below, a caller or userof the phone 5522 may initiate a recording request using voice promptsprovided by the voice recognition system 5510 through the communicationnetwork 5512.

Referring now to FIG. 56, a method for generating a recording requestfor the system illustrated in FIG. 55 is set forth.

To use the voice recognition system or telephone-based system set forth,a phone number is associated with an account in step 5610. In step 5612,a call into a central business location or the voice menu system 5510 ofFIG. 55 is performed using a phone signal from a telephone or other typeof voice device. In step 5614, the caller identification associated withthe phone signal is obtained. In step 5616, if the number associatedwith the phone signal is not recognized, that user may be prompted toassociate the number with an account. Further, the user may be promptedto enter his home phone number or another number associated with theparticular account.

In step 5616, if the number is recognized, step 5618 prompts for variousselections. The prompts may be provided in voice in a voice menu system.The system may be also part of a larger system that includes billinginformation or other technical assistance. A voice prompt for recordingmay be generated and a response may be provided in step 5620. In step5620, if a “record selection” option is not provided, other functionsare executed in step 5622. In step 5620, if a record selection option isselected, various menu functions may be activated. The type of recordselection functions may initiate search options or other functions thatdepend upon the various systems in step 5624. A category-type selectionmay be presented to the user by way of voice. Voice commands may thus begenerated by the user to pick various types of categories such asmysteries, sports programming, or the like. Both stored and livetelevision may be recorded through the system. Another option forrecording or search for material may be set forth. A channel number maybe voiced or a channel name may be voiced. It should be noted thatinstead of voice, key pad entries may also be used to make selections inthe voice menu. Another type of search may be a program title search.Certain search terms may be voiced into the system and search resultsprovided. A number, name or category type in step 5624 may bring upvarious other choices for which other options may take place.

In step 5628, a number of titles “X” may be provided by way of voice. Inone example, four titles corresponding to current programming with aparticular category type in step 5624 or the current channel number orname may be set forth. If more titles are required, a “more titles”voice prompt may be provided in which step 5628 generates more titles.If more titles are not selected in step 5620, step 5632 may request moreinformation. More information may be provided for one of the titlesgenerated. The voice data for more information in step 5634 may providevarious information such as the director, the actor, a brief descriptionof the content, or the like. Providing more titles and more informationare optional steps. In step 5636, if a particular title of a program oran event of interest is desired, a “record title” prompt may beprovided. The option of recording an entire series may be provided instep 5637. Multiple record requests, one for each program of a series,may be provided.

In step 5658, an eligible receiver may be selected in a similar mannerto step 5324 above. One or multiple receivers could potentially bechosen. In step 5660, prioritization of the recording may also beselected. Prioritization may take place by adding the recorded requestto the top of the queue or place it at the bottom of the queue, forexample. In step 5662, a confirmation of the record request may beprovided to the user. A summary describing the priority, the eligiblereceiver and the title to be recorded, as well as the time, may beprovided to the user. A confirmation request may also take place bysending an e-mail, or the like. In step 5664, another program may alsobe chosen by repeating step 5624. If another recording is not desired,the system ends in step 5666 by ending the call.

After step 5666, steps 5328 through 5342 may be performed in step 5568in which a CAP is generated and communicated to the specified receivingdevice to authorize recording. A recording may take place in response tothe CAP.

Those skilled in the art can now appreciate from the foregoingdescription that the broad teachings of the disclosure can beimplemented in a variety of forms. Therefore, while this disclosureincludes particular examples, the true scope of the disclosure shouldnot be so limited since other modifications will become apparent to theskilled practitioner upon a study of the drawings, the specification andthe following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of initiating a recording at a userdevice comprising: communicating between a voice device and a voice menusystem using a phone signal through a voice network, wherein said voicemenu system is separate from the user device; determining a phone numberassociated with the voice device from the phone signal; when the phonenumber is not recognized, generating prompts for inputting anidentifying number associated with an account; in response torecognizing the phone number or the identifying number at the voice menusystem, generating a first audible voice menu prompt for recording acontent selection from the voice menu system; selecting a recordingcontent option using a voice command or button push input communicatedfrom the voice device; generating audible voice menu prompts from thevoice menu system for initiating searching content titles by genre fromchannels that the user device is subscribed to and hiding content titlesfrom channels that the user device is not subscribed to by using abilling system so that a plurality of searchable content titles areobtained; initiating searching of the searchable content titles by genreby providing an audible voice search command corresponding to a firstgenre from the voice device to the voice menu system; audibly presentinga plurality of content titles within the first genre that the userdevice is subscribed to with a voice signal to the voice device from thevoice menu system; selecting a content title of the plurality ofsearched content titles by communicating a voice selection signal fromthe voice device to the voice menu system; communicating, from a contentprocessing system, a control word having a content location forobtaining content to the user device for initiating recording contentcorresponding to the content title; tuning the user device in responseto the control word using the content location from the control word;receiving the content at the user device from the content location;storing the content corresponding to the content title in the userdevice; after storing, selecting the content to display at the userdevice; displaying the content at the user device; and in response toselecting the content to be displayed, billing a user for the content.2. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein communicating between a voicedevice and the voice menu system comprises communicating between thevoice device and a voice recognition phone system.
 3. A method asrecited in claim 1 wherein communicating the control word comprisescommunicating the control word through a satellite.
 4. A method asrecited in claim 1 wherein communicating the control word comprisescommunicating the control word through a broadband communication system.5. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein receiving the contentcomprises receiving the content through a satellite.
 6. A method asrecited in claim 1 wherein receiving the content comprises receiving thecontent through a broadband communication system.
 7. A method as recitedin claim 1 wherein receiving the content comprises receiving the contentthrough a terrestrial system.
 8. A method as recited in claim 1 whereincommunicating a control word comprises communicating the control wordthrough a satellite and wherein receiving the content comprisesreceiving the content through the satellite.
 9. A method as recited inclaim 1 wherein communicating a control word comprises communicating thecontrol word through a satellite and wherein receiving the contentcomprises receiving the content through a broadband communicationsystem.
 10. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein selecting a contenttitle comprises selecting the content title from a search result.
 11. Asystem for recording and displaying content at a user device comprising:a voice menu system located separate from the user device; a voicedevice communicating a phone signal to the voice menu system through avoice network; said voice menu system determining a phone numberassociated with the voice device through the phone signal when the phonenumber is not recognized, generating prompts for inputting anidentifying number associated with an account and generating a firstaudible voice menu prompt for recording a content selection from thevoice menu system in response to recognizing the phone number oridentifying number; said voice device selecting a recording contentoption using a voice command or button push input communicated from thevoice device; said voice menu system generating audible voice menuprompts for initially searching content titles by genre from channelsthat the user device is subscribed to and hiding content titles fromchannels that the user device is not subscribed to determined using abilling system so that a plurality of searched content titles areobtained; said voice device initiating searching the content titles bygenre by providing a voice search command corresponding to a first genrefrom the voice device to the voice menu system; said voice menu systemcommunicating, to the voice device, a plurality of content titles withinthe first genre a user is subscribed to with a voice signal; said voicedevice selecting a content title of the plurality of searched contenttitles from the prompts by communicating a voice selection signal to thevoice menu system; a content processing system communicating a controlword having a content location for obtaining the content to the userdevice when the user device is authorized, said control word forinitiating recording content corresponding to the content title; saiduser device tuning a tuner using the content location of the controlword to receive the content, recording the content in response to thecontrol word, controlling a display to display the content in responseto a user display selection signal; and said billing system, in responseto the user display selection signal and after storing the content,billing the user for the content.
 12. A system as recited in claim 11further comprising a satellite in communication with the contentprocessing system communicating the control word therethrough.
 13. Asystem as recited in claim 11 further comprising a broadbandcommunication system in communication with the content processing systemcommunicating the control word therethrough.
 14. A system as recited inclaim 11 wherein the voice device comprises a mobile device.
 15. Asystem as recited in claim 14 wherein the voice menu system comprises avoice recognition system.
 16. A system as recited in claim 11 whereinthe content processing system is in communication with the voice menusystem, said content processing system communicating content dataincluding content titles to the voice menu system.
 17. A system asrecited in claim 11 wherein the voice device comprises a telephone.